Link – The largest mental-health facility in Texas shouldn’t be a jail
No, this should not be the way to treat mental health.
Sadly, when measured in terms of inmates who suffer from mental illness, the Dallas County Jail is the second-largest mental-health institution in the state — after the Harris County Jail in Houston. That is why local law-enforcement officials consistently identify the need for better services for the mentally ill as among their highest priorities.
It hurts everyone. Obviously, it’s a horrible place to be if you’re dealing with a mental health issue, but it also means that instead of performing the function we expect jails to perform, in rehabilitation, education, etc. it’s tied up in trying to be a mental health treatment facility, that it isn’t equipped to be, with staff that isn’t trained.
That’s no way to solve the mental health crisis, but far too many people simply don’t care, as long as “those people” are locked away from the rest of us.
